The county seat is the city of Yengisar, a town well known among the local Uyghurs for its handmade knives.

The finely-tuned skill of knife-making used to be passed down among generations in Yengisar,[14] but it is slowly dying due to China's strict response to deadly clashes in Xinjiang.

[18] The Battle of Yangi Hissar took place here in April 1934, when Ma Zhancang led the Chinese Muslim 36th division to attack the Turkic Muslim Uighur forces at Yangi Hissar, wiping out the entire Uighur force of 500 and killing the Emir Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra.

[21] In September 2017, Horigul Nasir, then 21, was jailed for ten years for allegedly promoting the wearing of head scarves.

The city of Yengisar gave its name to Yangihissar gecko (Cyrtopodion elongatum) lizard species, which occurs throughout eastern Central Asia, including Xinjiang and Gansu Province.